Bush pushes free trade

• By GARY PERILLOUX
• Advocate business writer
• Published: Apr 21, 2008 - UPDATED: 6:15 p.m.

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NEW ORLEANS — Amid a whir of camera shutters, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Bush smiled at a flurry of questions but declined to take any of them in a ceremonial briefing with media from their countries.

The North American Leaders Summit, which continues today and includes Mexican President Felipe Calderon, has drawn criticism for just such reticence. Critics, such as a group of about 30 grass roots organization holding an alternative People’s Summit, are calling for Congress to stop the Security and Prosperity Partnership as something that will continue what they claim are failed policies of the NAFTA trade agreement ushered in under President Bill Clinton in 1994.

But Bush, Calderon and Harper soldier on with their process, launched in 2005 near Bush’s Texas ranch. It’s a process, they say, that has increased wealth in all three nations and bolstered the security of citizens with greater opportunities brought by free trade.

 “Our borders need to flow smoothly, so it won’t inconvenience trade,” Bush said in a Windsor Court Hotel appearance with Harper. “And I think we’ve worked through the issues.”

With Democratic candidates for president clamoring for restructuring of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Bush said, “This summit comes at an opportune time to reaffirm our commitment to free trade.”

Harper, while politely backing Bush’s sentiments, said only that the leaders discussed border security strategies, the environment and energy.

“Whether we agree or disagree, we’re always able to talk frankly,” said Harper, who also addressed the media in French in what he called his father’s favorite francophone city.

But it was Felipe Calderon who issued the strongest statement on behalf of advancing NAFTA with even broader trade and border advances. Calderon met earlier Monday afternoon with Bush, before the three attended a U.S. Chamber of Commerce reception and dined at a New Orleans institution, Commander’s Palace.

“I don’t think people realize how many assets have been brought to Mexico (by NAFTA),” Calderon said. “I can say that hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created on both sides of the borders.”

Calderon said he and Bush discussed efforts to clamp down on drug and arms trafficking passing through the Mexico-U.S. border. They discussed alternative fuel solutions and the need to protect the rights of Mexican citizens on trade and prosperity issues related to reasonably open borders.

“I understand the United States is going through an electoral process,” Calderon said, an allusion to Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Both have criticized some of the effects of NAFTA. “We respect that (electoral) process but I do want to point out that we need to focus on solutions to this issue (of protecting Mexican citizens’ rights).”

In their first official function Monday, Bush and Calderon reopened the Mexican consulate in New Orleans, closed since 2002 due to cost-cutting measures by the Mexican government that had led an estimated 30,000 Mexican nationals to seek diplomatic help in Houston.

Bush also chose New Orleans for the summit, he said, to signify the city’s reemergence as a rejuvenated community, despite more than 150,000 fewer people and many residential neighborhoods awaiting rebirth. The city’s core, where  the summit talks are going on, has been resurrected, Bush said.